I know that there ar more accessories for the 870, but I looked at a 1300 pump and it seems to be a very nice gun for under $300, the action felt nicer and the trigger felt better than an 870 pump.
The pump action of a 1300 is much shorter than the 870, seems faster to me.

I have also heard the praises of the benelli nova sung and it has a rotary bolt with a short throw like the 1300.

Wally world had a 1300 12 gauge for $227.

How do the 1300 and the 870 compare?

Anyone have both?

Thanks

__________________
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The 1300s I've shot have been students' gun, and did all that I wanted them to. I doubt they'll hold up as long as an 870, but either will outlast us.

IMO, the 1300 is a good shotgun, the 870 a great one. Either serves a variety of roles, one of the great upsides of repeaters.

I also had some experience with the 1200s in an institutional setting. There were probs galore, tho most, on hindsight, were due to poor maintenance, abuse and neglect. The 1200 and 1300 share some parts.

If kept clean and maintained, the 1300 will work for you indefinitely.

Buy a used police 870 trade-in. Prices range from 175-250. Yesterday at a show I saw two with black plastic(?) stocks and mag extensions for 250 each. For a HD shotgun, keep it simple. The more accessories that you hand on, the weaker the package becomes. About the most that I would add is Tritium nightsights. As is, the 870 will not fail you. Aftermarket springs for a mag extension will fail, lights fall off, get broken, don't work when you need them, etc. Saddle carriers look neat and hardcore but always get in the way. If you need more than four or five rounds of birdshot for your bedroom, you live in the wrong neighborhood.

A medium size dog from the poung will give you better home security than a shotgun. Mind you, I'm not against anyone keeping a scattergun for home defense, but at inside-the-house ranges, they don't, scatter, that is Inside 20-25 feet the pattern of any size shot is about .69 inches out of a 12 ga. in ANY choke or ANY barrel length. I do keep several short barreled 870's in my house, all loaded with AA 1oz. trap loads, but I am aware of the limitations of a shotgun at short range. Buck would penetrate the outside walls and pose a hazard to my neighbors
( that is a sad commentary on the state of home construction these days)

MasterBlaster, I agree with you that the Winchester action beats out the 870. If you are a wingshooter I think that may be the deciding factor for you. After 33 yrs. of use my 1200 never ceases to amaze me with it's smooth action that even last season dropped a double on chuckar with a swing shot from left to right that seemed effortless. Since I'm accustomed of late to hunting with a Citori ( my son was using it that day) I had to spend a few moments afterwards trying to recall if I actually pumped the action.
I have never run into any problems with the functioning of the 1200, I would be interested in knowing some of the problems Dave McC had with them so I can take preventative action if neccessary.

Hondo,IMO, the reason you haven't run into these probs with the 1200 is you keep yours clean and maintained.

The probs with the institutional weapons included one catastrophic failure of the trigger group, a number of failures to feed(shell stayed in mag when pumped) a bent action bar, and a handful of FTFs on the range. In retrospect, I believe the last was from severe grunge buildup. I heard of a couple of jams with more thna one shell released form the mag at once, but did not have to deal with that personally.

Correctional weapons get neglected and abused. No 1200 owner I've run across has reported these probs. The difference is maintainence and TLC.

Got a chance to compare the two a couple weeks ago. Friends and I were sighting in slug guns - we had 4 870's from Express to Express Magnums & Wingmasters. Had 2 1200's. We shot a variety of loads both old and new, both slug and shot, on targets and skeet.

Older 870's (some, not all) seem to have a slight problem double-feeding every once in a great while, resulting in a stuck shell under the bolt. Close inspection revealed smith error - too long of an aftermarket stronger magazine spring.

The 1200's had 3 'jams' all day. Inspection of the shell, after it was ram-rodded out of the barrel, revealed a hot load which expanded the base (2 were my reloads, one was a factory Federal rifled slug). The extractor on the 1200's don't seem to like having to work too hard in extracting a shell. I guess paying close attention to the type of ammo you use would fix this trouble.

Also, between the two guns, shorter-armed shooters were more accurate with the 1200's, while longer-armed shooters like myself were more accurate with the 870's, in general. That was just my observation, but I took no measurements to confirm my theory.

Hope that helps a little. I like the reliability of both weapons, so, for me, it comes down to fit and feel.

Dave, have you also noticed, like I have, that your shotgun will function flawlessly until you tell your buddies how great of a gun it has been? Then go to shoot it and one of the first ten shells lodges under the bolt?

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